Page:The Political History of the Devil - Defoe (1726).djvu/28

 the Heavenly forces, which Satan expected himself, as the eldest officer; and his not being able to brook another to be put in over his head, I say, that fine-spun thought of Mr. Milton would appear to be strain'd too far, and only serve to convince us that he (Milton) knew nothing of the matter. Satan knows very well, that the Messias was not declared to be the Son of God with power till by and after the resurrection from the dead, and that all power was then given him in heaven and earth, and not before; so that Satan's rebellion must derive from other causes, and upon other occasions, as he himself can doubtless give us an account, if he thinks fit, and of which we shall speak farther in this history.

What a fine history might this old Gentleman write of the Antediluvian world, and of all the weighty affairs, as well of state as of religion, which happen'd during the fifteen hundred years of the patriarchal administration!

Then, who like him, could give a full and compleat account of the deluge, whether it was a meer vindictive, a blast from heaven, wrought by a supernatural power in the way of miracle? or whether, according to Mr. Burnet's Theory, it was a consequence following antecedent causes by the meer necessities of nature, seen in constitution, natural position, and unavoidable working of things, as by the Theory publish'd by that learn'd enthusiast it seems to be?

Satan could easily account for all the difficulties of the Theory, and tell us whether, as there was a natural necessity of the deluge, there is not the like necessity and natural tendency to a conflagration at last.

Would the Devil exert himself as an historian, for our improvement and diversion, how glorious an account could he give us of Noah's voyage